The Nonproliferation System’s Stress Test

Inside the Arms Control Association

Inside ACA

May 2026

The 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has served as the essential framework and catalyst, albeit an imperfect one, for global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, end nuclear testing, and advance disarmament diplomacy to help achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

Since ACA’s founding in 1972, a key focus of our work has been to promote implementation of and compliance with the ambitious goals and objectives of the NPT.

Five decades ago, in 1974, ACA and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace held a special conference in France to prepare for the first (1975) NPT Review Conference. That year, ACA published the papers and summary of the proceedings (cover to the right) in a 105-page volume. It was ACA’s first research report.

Today, the NPT remains more vital than ever to global security and ACA is still in the forefront of nongovernmental efforts to realize its full potential.

Tragically, due to years of inattention, inaction, and reckless disregard for international norms of behavior by some NPT nuclear-armed states, the global nonproliferation system is facing an uncertain future.

On April 27, the 11th NPT Review Conference will open at UN headquarters and we’ll be there to do what we can to help steer key delegations in the right direction.

As I wrote in my column in April’s edition of Arms Control Today, we’ll be pressing diplomats to agree to a final outcome document that:

  • Reaffirms their governments’ support for the principles, objectives, and action steps endorsed by consensus at earlier NPT meetings.
  • Endorses a focused set of action steps to jumpstart progress on disarmament diplomacy and reinforce key norms, including the global ban on nuclear testing and assurances to nonnuclear weapon states they will not be subject to nuclear threats or attacks.

This is not just another NPT meeting and success is by no means assured. In fact, a meaningful consensus-based final outcome document is unlikely.

But we and all states-parties must try because the stakes are higher than ever. Key treaties that have served as guardrails against nuclear catastrophe for decades have expired or are under serious threat.

As 2026 Conference President Du Hong Viet told Arms Control Today, without such an outcome, “We may lose the credibility of the NPT itself, and the review process.”

Keep an eye out on your social media networks and email box and on the ACA web site for further updates.

And be sure to register for ACA’s June 2 Annual Meeting, which will feature a keynote address by Amb. Viet. (See details below.)

Thanks for your engagement and support.

Onward,

Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director

ACA Resources and Activities for the Pivotal 11th NPT Review Conference

Board Chair and former member of the U.S. NPT delegation in 2015 and 2022, Tom Countryman, our program and policy associate Libby Flatoff and I will be there for much of the month-long meeting.

In addition to engaging with key diplomats, we will be hosting three ACA side-events, and speaking at two others. ACA has also organized two joint NGO statements – one on the CTBT and nuclear testing, and the other on how the nuclear weapon states can advance their  NPT Article VI disarmament obligations. Both statements will be delivered to the plenary on May 1.

Check out the full inventory of ACA resources, articles, analysis, and interviews about the April 27-May 22 meeting and the NPT.

A central issue of debate will likely be President Trump’s still very real threat to resume U.S. nuclear testing “on an equal basis”and what to do about it. For ACA’s recommended path forward, see Daryl Kimball’s column in the forthcoming May issue of Arms Control Today, “Two Nuclear Wrongs Don’t Make a Right.”

For more information about the conference, including statements, working papers, and a calendar of events, see the official UN website for the Review Conference and the NPT 2026 website of our NGO partners at Reaching Critical Will.

Join Us on June 2 for ACA’s Annual Meeting

ACA's 2026 Annual Meeting takes place as wars continue to affect millions of lives and wreak havoc on cooperative systems designed to ensure global peace and security.

At the same time, the world continues to drift closer to the nuclear brink. Nuclear armed states are building up their capabilities while key treaties that served as guardrails against nuclear catastrophe have expired or are under threat.

Ambassador Do Hung Viet, President of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, will deliver one of our keynote presentations. Our expert panel discussions will address:

  • Repairing the NPT Regime: Preventing Nuclear Arms Racing, Testing, Proliferation.
  • Nuclear Challenges in the Middle East: Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
  • New Pathways Toward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy

Register today to reserve your spot. (Lunch is included for all registrants.)

ACA Weighs in on the War on Iran and Lingering Nuclear Challenges

ACA has been a leading organization over the past two decades seeking effective diplomatic solutions to block Iran’s potential pathways to nuclear weapons. Our team of experts, led by nonproliferation policy director Kelsey Davenport has been in high demand since U.S. and Israeli forces launched their renewed attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

On Feb. 6, Kelsey told The New York Times that Mr. Trump’s zero enrichment position, should he cling to it, amounts to a poison pill sure to make the talks fail.

“If Trump does insist on zero enrichment, there’s not going to be a deal, Iran is not going to forgo what it views as a national right,” she cautioned. The issue continues to be a sticking point.

A week before the bombs began to fall, and in the hours after they did, we spoke up and said, clearly, that “renewed military attacks on not justified on nonproliferation grounds,” and we suggested that the United States could have and should have negotiated in good faith with Iran to arrive at effective solutions that address concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and stockpiles of enriched uranium.

Our detailed analysis of the U.S. negotiating team’s performance and lack of technical expertise underscored how and why they failed to explore serious diplomatic options to block Iran’s nuclear potential. See Kelsey’s analysis in the April Issue of Arms Control Today, “U.S. Negotiators Were Ill-Prepared for Serious Nuclear Talks With Iran.”

That analysis led several mainstream news outlets to report on how more effective U.S. (and Iranian) diplomacy could have avoided this unnecessary and illegal war.

Another unresolved nuclear challenge: how to verifiably address the 440 kg of highly-enriched uranium still in Iran? Before and after the war broke out, we have outlined options for a diplomatic agreement to downblend and dispose of the material under IAEA supervision so it does not pose a proliferation risk. And, as Daryl Kimball explained in a recent Al Jazeera interview, the diplomatic path would be far more effective than a high-risk U.S. military operation to try to seize the material under hostile fire.

Now, in the midst of an uneasy ceasefire and dueling blockades of the Strait of Hormuz, U.S.-Iran talks appear to have resumed.

ACA  will continue to point the way to an effective diplomatic solution that averts further hostilities and addresses the lingering proliferation risks posed by Iran’s residual nuclear knowledge, capabilities, and uranium stockpiles. For the latest on how that could be done, see: “The Trump Administration Must Prioritize Verification in Iran Talks” by Kelsey Davenport.

Say Hello to ACA’s Newest Board Members …

Every year, our Arms Control Association members vote on a slate of returning and new candidates to serve on our distinguished Board of Directors for a three-year (renewable) term.

We are pleased to announce that we have four returning Board members – Thomas Countryman, Leland Cogliani, Lilly Adams, and Matthew Bunn – and three, new top-notch Board members. Joining the Board are:

  • Joyce Connery, who is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. She retired in 2025 after over twenty-three years serving in the U.S. federal government, including leadership at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which she chaired from 2021-2025.
  • Lynn Rusten is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis. From 2018-2024 she led the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Global Nuclear Policy Program. Prior to that, she held senior positions dealing with nuclear arms control at the White House, Department of State, and Congress.
  • Bruce Turner served for decades as Senior U.S. Foreign Service officer, and most recently was the U.S. Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament from 2022-2025. Before that he was the Senior Bureau Official for the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance.

We’re very grateful to all of our Board members for their many contributions to the cause. As a small nonprofit, they serve on a volunteer basis and play a crucial role in guiding our strategy and planning, ensuring our financial health and stability, and advising and engaging in our programmatic work and outreach.

ACA In the News

For most of the public, and for many policymakers, news reporting by mainstream news media outlets is their primary source of information on international and weapons related security matters. Much of social media is also driven by this reporting.

ACA’s team of experts are regularly cited, especially when there are significant WMD-related developments. The following is just a small sample of some of the news reporting we helped to shape.

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